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Ideology plays key role in governing

Mon., May 27, 2013

Re: Prophets of doom never seem to get it right, Opinion May 27

Prophets of doom never seem to get it right, Opinion May 27

Physicist Tony Rothman makes the excellent point that issues should be decided on evidence. That’s how our technical society has been able to progress. Unfortunately it’s not how decisions seem to be made.

While this keeps our courts busy, since they are required to actually look at evidence, it is not good for society as a whole. Whether we’re talking about failure to take action on climate change or pushing nonsensical austerity agendas that have been repeatedly shown to be counterproductive, ideology seems to drive the decisions our governments make.

To circumvent this we need not just electoral reform, so that our legislators actually represent the people, but also reforms in how our government operates. Most notably we should adopt the Swiss model where the government (the prime minister and cabinet) are elected proportionally from the legislative assembly.

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This creates governments that represent all the major factions. More importantly, it ensures that the parties have to work together to get things done. There has to be real discussion of the issues, not just grandstanding for the media. It also ensures that Parliament, not the prime minister, controls the agenda.

It’s taken many centuries since the Magna Carta for Parliament to assert supremacy over the monarchy. Turning the prime minister into a king by another name sets us back centuries.

Public decisions shouldn’t be made on the limited knowledge of a single person but rather by the assembled wisdom of our elected representatives sitting together to weigh the evidence. That’s how good decisions are made.

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